by Cloe D Frost
What had been tainted wasn’t just her flesh but her mind.
One can chop off one’s flesh, but how could one chop off one’s mind?
Even if she kept switching Replica bodies like socks the Ink would further corrode her mind until she turns into a mere shell of what she used to be. At that point, she would be a true Tainted, even if her body wasn’t tainted.
And there wasn’t anything one could do about it.
No matter how much one compressed their Mind towards the center of their body, one couldn’t make it disappear. It merely became a dense veil covering one’s flesh. And as soon as her form had touched the Ink, even if Ink had just touched her uniform and had no direct skin contact, her Mind had already become tainted.
That was the scariest thing about Ink. It could taint life. That included everything that had anything to do with being alive. Mind and mana included.
Only divine things were immune to taint. And she was not divine in any way.
Nelaira closed her eyes tightly, her forehead creased in bitterness. And then she let out an exhale and opened her eyes again. There was no point for her to think about Ink. Or rather, she had no time to worry about it. It would take mere days for her to lose her ability to use magic. Mere two weeks for her to turn into a Tainted.
Before then she had to defeat Lorafiel and the other two, take their Beacon, and rescue Aurel and Luki.
With her mind set, and the clearest it had been since the battle, she looked around herself.
When she had lost her consciousness, she had been lying inside the cave of her own making, but now what met her eyes was not darkness but light, not snow but stone.
She was not inside a cave, rather, she was standing inside a relatively large shrine made from dark gray stone that had been frozen blue.
And in the middle of the shrine, right in front of her, stood the most mesmerizing flower she had ever seen. She had to wipe her eyes and shake her head for a whole minute until she was sure that the flower wasn’t a mere hallucination.
It was a species of flower she had never seen before. It somewhat resembled a columbine flower, a lily, and even an orchid, but was neither of the three.
The edges of its petals were colored in the most beautiful shade of crimson she had ever seen, looking like one could squeeze blood out of it with a single pinch.
The red looked like a crown as it surrounded the pure white in the middle. The core of its being was so white, purer than the snow it was growing out of. It glittered under the soft light, its texture resembling the snow that covered the Valley, looking so fragile, so delicate, like it would melt with the lightest touch.
In the center of the white grew multicolored stamen, the tips of which glowed radiantly, resembling fireflies. The lights flickered, grew brighter and dimmer, glittering slowly, making one get lost in their beauty.
Even the filament of the stamen and the subtle veins spreading through the petals seemed to have multicolored glittering liquid flowing through them as if it was liquified magic.
Colored from inside out in various bright shades of green, the leaves of the flower surrounded it as if a royal gown, perfectly enhancing its allure.
The full image of the plant was so vivid, so bright, that it blinded the eyes with its beauty.
Nelaira felt like she had just taken off tinted glasses. Like she was seeing the world in its full, bright glory for the first time. As if all this time her entire world had been dim and gray, and now, she could finally see color.
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Author Note
Here are some reference images to help you picture the flower:
For you guys who didn’t read the most recent Patron news update here is a copy paste regarding the song:
“Purgers like to sing it over a couple of beers. Though it will be funnier when you find out what Meltdown means and what it has to do with flying. I’ll give you a clue: flying up out of reach while fighting a grounded Tainted is a recipe for a team-wide wipe-out. (Yes, there is a good reason why Nelaira’s team didn’t just fly up in their battle. )”
Song name: 10 Purgers on the team
10 Purgers on the team, 10 Purgers.
Tainted took one down and passed him around, 9 Purgers on the team.
9 Purgers on the team, 9 Purgers.
Ink made one drown and he spread it around, 8 Purgers on the team.
8 Purgers on the team, 8 Purgers.
Oh, oh, what a letdown, the captain got cut down. 7 Purgers on the team.
7 Purgers on the team, 7 Purgers.
No way to slow down, No time to come around. 6 Purgers on the team.
6 Purgers on the team, 6 Purgers.
Oh, oh, one clown f*cking flew off the ground. 5 Purgers on the team.
5 Purgers on the team, 5 Purgers.
You retard, come back down, stop f*cking around! 4 Purgers on the team.
4 Purgers on the team, 4 Purgers.
Tainted started to Meltdown, it’s the final countdown, 3 Purgers on the team.
3 Purgers on the team, 3 Purgers.
Team wipeout, total breakdown. Everyone got shot down. No more Purgers on the team.
No more Purgers on the team, no more Purgers.
Oh, oh, go back to town, there more can be found, 10 Purgers on the team.
10 Purgers on the team, 10 Purgers.
Coming up in the next episode:
When it came to gods, everything was possible.
Azizia was everywhere in everything. Azizia was the governing principle of the world, the law of heaven. Circular, endless, infinite.
“Use… Aetherneal… key…” Nelaira muttered, her fingers brushing over the runes. “Open… Aetherneal… gate…”
She inspected the pillars one by one, this time carefully examining all the images that were carved into the pillars.
* * *
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